When Englishman Chris Broad landed in a rural village in northern Japan he wondered if he'd made a huge mistake. With no knowledge of the language and zero teaching experience, was he about to be the most quickly fired English teacher in Japan's history?
"Abroad in Japan" charts a decade of living in a foreign land and the chaos and culture clash that came with it.
By Lília
I heard about this book when it was released in 2023, and as a great admirer of Japanese language and culture, I was immediately curious.
It took me almost a year to finally start reading it—my TBR list is always growing!—but after I started, I couldn’t put it down. Abroad in Japan is a book to be read in small doses, savoring the nuances between Western and Japanese cultures.
Starting as a 22-year-old teacher fresh from university, Broad recounts his journey to becoming a well-known YouTuber in Japan, detailing his many teaching experiences without knowing much Japanese, his successes and failures and the culture shock he faced. It’s a fascinating journey in which he shows not only the “exotic” side of Japan, but also its cruel one—from bullying to the unequal position of women today.
Even if the pacing sometimes feels a bit boring, Broad describes his life in Japan in the same sarcastic, funny and charming way as in his videos. His voice is clear, and you can visualize everything he mentions, his experiences and how they affected his way of thinking and understanding this new world around him. His writing style makes for a very pleasant read.
I enjoyed Abroad in Japan immensely and would recommend it to all interested in experiencing life in Japan, even though I found his experiences as a teacher and learning Japanese more entertaining than his struggles to become the well-known YouTuber he is nowadays.
4 out of 5 stars
